Indian department of Biotechnology developing anti-diarrheoa Zinc tablets

New Delhi, June 19 (ANI): National Department of biotechnology is working on to develop anti- diarrhoea dispersible zinc tablets, which could be of ultimate help for children.

It is being developed in association with Bharat Immunological and Biologicals Corporation Limited (BIBCOL).

BIBCOL has set-up the facility for production of dispersible zinc tablets with financial support from Department of Bio-Technology.

Meant for children, the tablets are being made in such a way that they disintegrate rapidly when mixed in a teaspoonful of clean water or expressed breast milk.

Rapid disintegration makes it easier to administer it to children, especially infants.

"Children if they full tablet if they take then they cannot take it small children. If they take in syrup the entire syrup may not go into the...feeding is a problem. Because syrup it is not just 1ml or 2ml that depends upon the dose. So in the Zinc dispersible tablet you take a small spoon. In a small spoon, once a tablet is placed they can use water, milk or mothers milk and it will disperse in 30 seconds time. So, immediately, they can feed it," said S. Subbiah, Managing Director of BIBCOL.

Clinical research involving over 10 trials in India shows that Zinc treatment is a new highly efficacious treatment in acute diarrhoea.

Further studies have revealed that children who received 10-14 days of zinc treatment for childhood diarrhoea also showed greater resistance to episodes of diarrhoea.

Many available vitamin products and other nutritional supplement containing zinc do not have the recommended dosage of zinc.

"Country like in India if this is included in a government program for mass consumption so the logistics will be a problem. Tablet is easy to transport easy to store and easy to handle and size becomes very small," said Dr. C.B Benjwal of BIBCOL.

DBT is initiating steps to popularize the product among various state health departments. The medicine will be supplied free in states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Assam.

Some reports say that one out of every five children, who dies of Diarrhoea worldwide, is an Indian. Every year around 500,000 children in India die because of diarrhoea. (ANI)